San Francisco Bay Area

Federal authorities are investigating a string of burglaries at gun shops throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, warning that stolen firearms are often used to commit crimes. The most recent burglary occurred Wednesday at Dom's Surplus Outdoor Supply in Livermore, where 38 handguns were stolen, authorities said. Over the last six weeks, a total of 90 handguns and long guns have been stolen in Fremont, Corte Madera and Merced, authorities said.

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake centered seven miles northeast of Gilroy rattled the south end of the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday, but caused no significant damage or injuries, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The 1:35 p.m. quake was on the frequently active Calaveras fault at the same site as a magnitude 5.9 quake in 1979, a USGS spokeswoman said.

United Airlines, the nation's second-largest airline, is planning a major expansion of transpacific service that will bring 1,650 new jobs to the San Francisco Bay area, company officials said. The airline, which has chosen San Francisco to be its U.S. flight hub of Asian-bound flights, will acquire 38 more jets to add to its fleet. United has two jet maintenance bases at airports in San Francisco and Oakland. Nearly 1,000 of the new jobs will be created in San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

REAL ESTATE * San Francisco Bay Area home prices failed to rise in August for the first time in seven months as more people put their homes up for sale, DataQuick Information Systems said. The median price in the nine-county Bay Area matched the July peak of $417,000, DataQuick said. The price was up 11% from $376,000 a year earlier. The last time the median didn't rise from the month before was in January, when it fell to $371,000, from $377,000.